For years, my father owned a coin-operated machine business. In the 1970’s, during my tween and teen years, I loved hanging out in the shop, where a quarter allowed me to hear three songs on a jukebox or play one game on a pinball machine. In the summer of 1984, when my family drove to California to attend my uncle’s wedding, we stopped in Nevada, where the slot machine cost a quarter per game. I used to be able to buy a can of pop for two quarters. Before I had my own washer and dryer, I spent six to eight quarters for laundry each week. Now, the quarter doesn’t go far anymore.
***
How about you? What did you spend quarters on in your lifetime? Please feel free to share your memories in the comment field.
Thanks to Girlie on the Edge for inspiring the above vignette with her six-sentence prompt for this week. If you’d like to participate, click here.
***
By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.
New! The Red Dress
Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books
When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.
Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.
***
My Corner 
So true. A quarter ain’t a quarter any longer.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a good point. Thank you for reading and commenting.
LikeLike
Quarters are a foreign language where I come from, but money doesn’t go nearly as far as it did, no matter the currency.
And now interest rates are a joke, those of us who thought we’d be okay in our (rapidly) declining years look on in dismay.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hear you. Thank you for reading and commenting.
LikeLike
I think I remember a gallon of gas costing a quarter, but that was very long ago.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! I’ve never been able to drive because of my visual impairment. So, I couldn’t tell you how much a gallon of gas cost in my younger years. Wouldn’t it be nice if it only cost a quarter now? Thank you for reading and commenting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A small Icee was a quarter, and i bought many through the hot summers years ago.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sounds heavenly. Thank you for reading and commenting.
LikeLike
A quarter doesn’t ‘register’ with me, but ever other currency I’ve dealt in has lost value.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, that’s the thing about inflation. Thank you for reading and commenting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not familiar with quarters, but I remember pennies being useful in slot machines especially for getting gum and sweets. We were also quite naughty and put halfpennies on the railway track which were squashed by trains and then fitted penny slot machines!
My Six!
LikeLiked by 2 people
What an interesting thing to do with a halfpenny. We don’t have those here in the U.S. I’ve never been a fan of candy, but I’m sure my younger brother used pennies for that purpose. Thank you for reading and commenting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very true, that business of not going very far. (I do an odd thing these days when I receive coinage as change from a purchase, say, at the grocery story: as long as there’s no one around, I’ll put it (the change) on the top of one of those upright columns all stores seem to have theses days (to prevent genuine drive-throughs)
… kind of an exercise in ripple creation
Good Six
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I appreciate your comment.
LikeLike
I remember the quarter in the jukebox too! Or the individual ones at tables in diners. Loved those 😀
No Abbie, a quarter nowadays doesn’t go very far at all. I fear we are indeed on the path toward a “cashless society”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I also remember those little remote control boxes. I had one in my room for a while when I was a kid. The jukebox, to which it was connected, was in the basement. Thank you for reading and commenting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I used to put a quarter in the collection bag on Sundays. Now, I usually put in a loonie. I used to give a quarter of what I give now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, yes, I did the same thing. Thank you for reading and commenting.
LikeLiked by 1 person